Betraying Innocence (13 page)

Ana

Her promise to her father was one she had every intention of keeping the next morning while she prepared for school. She had been up half the night reminding herself she didn’t care if Rafe gave her the cold shoulder, if he thought she was crazy, or if he was with every girl in Chipawaha Creek. At least, she shouldn’t. She couldn’t even stand the guy. So as long as he kept his
crazy
theory to himself and didn’t go sharing it with the rest of the student body, she could probably live with him staying at arm’s length.

She
dressed quickly and jogged downstairs, confident that today would be nothing like yesterday.

“Morning!” her mother said from the island, coffee mug poised against her bottom lip.

Ana dumped her bag next to the kitchen door and entered the room. “Morning!”

“You were up late last night,” Dad said from the kitchen sink where he was elbow-deep in suds and scrubbing the previous night’s dinner dishes. “I got up for some water and your lights were on.”

Ana threw open the fridge door and peered inside. “Couldn’t sleep.” She shut the door, a yogurt cup in one hand and the carton of orange juice in the other.

“Maybe you should see a doctor.” Concern darkened her mother’s brow.

“I’m okay,” Ana set her things down on the island and went to grab a spoon from the drawer. “I’m just … I had homework.” What a lie. But it was better than telling her parents she’d been kept awake by the relentless tapping inside her walls.

Her father stopped and glanced back over his shoulder, eyes wide. “Homework? It was only the first day of school!”

Ana scoffed and returned to the island, spoon in hand. “Tell that to the sadists running that place.”

For several minutes, only the scrape of steel wool on cast iron pans filled the kitchen. Occasionally, it was broken by the ticking of the clock above the door. Ana watched the long hands sweep around the white face, counting the minutes before she had to rush out the door. She finished her yogurt and downed her juice as quickly as was possible without choking. She
dropped her spoon and glass into the soapy water, kissed her father on the cheek, then her mother, and hurried to grab her backpack.

“Hey! Do you have money for lunch?” her father called after her before she could make it out the door.

“Yes!” she called back, swinging her bag over her shoulder. “Love you! I’ll see you after school!”

A burst of mist slapped Ana in the face when she rushed onto the porch. The world was a morbid gray that made phantoms of the trees and rivers out of the ground. It wasn’t really raining though. It was a spray of moisture that seemed to gush out at random intervals like a spray bottle in the hands of a child
. Ana frowned as another burst broke apart across her face, dampening her clothes and hair.
Damn it!
She thought, torn between running back inside for a jacket and the possibility of missing her bus … again.

She opted for the bus. What were the odds of Rafe coming along a second time to save her? If she missed that bus then she’d have to go inside and ask one of her parents to take her and that was worse than walking.

Head ducked, she ran, careful to avoid the puddles strategically placed across the driveway and main road. Her backpack bounced against her spine. Strands of hair clung to her cheeks and neck, making the skin itchy, but she kept running. Not that it did any good.

Rounding her driveway, she was five seconds too late. The bus rumbled past without so much as slowing down.

“No!” She ran after it, waving her arms, hoping against all odds that the driver would check his mirror just once and see her.

No such luck. It ambled on, disappearing down the road and out of sight. Ana slowed her run to a jog, then gradually to a walk. There was no point hurrying now or going back. She might as well continue and pray it didn’t start
to really come down before she reached the school.

Her prayer paid off and it didn’t. The mist became drops, a light drizzle that chilled her skin. Her teeth chattered. Several times, she considered phoning her dad and asking him to come get her. But he would only scold her for getting as far as she
did in the first place. That she should have just came home as soon as she missed the bus. Better yet, since this was her second time missing it in two days, she should have gotten ready sooner. There were just too many scenarios in her head, all winding up with her getting reprimanded and her day already sucked. She didn’t need any more grief on her shoulders.

Behind her, the grind of wheels on gravel broke through the rain. Instinctively, Ana stepped off the road giving the driver a wide berth
, but it didn’t speed up or pass her. Instead, it rolled up alongside her and the passenger’s side window rolled down.

“Get in!”

Ana stopped. She turned and stared. What were the odds that the one person who kept finding her was the one person she promised to avoid? Okay, maybe the odds were pretty good considering they lived on the same block, but it just felt like a universal slap in the face. Nevertheless, it did not stop her from shoving her backpack onto the floor of the cabin, climbing after it and closing herself in.

She exhaled as soon as she was cocooned in the warmth blowing from the heaters. For a second, her eyes closed as she let it chase the damp fingers of cold from her skin. Her fingers shook as she snapped the belt into place across her lap. She stuffed her hands between her thighs and fought not to tremble. Even then, her voice came out breathless and raspy when she
thanked him.

Rafe said nothing for a minute. He turned in his seat and dug around in the back for something. Seconds passed and then he twisted around again, something in his hand.

“Here,” he said, passing her a jacket.

Ana hesitated, eyeing the offering
with surprise.

“You’re soaked!” he said more forcefully, shaking the jacket at her. “Just put it on
.”

Tentatively, she took it. Her fingers were stiff as she undid her seatbelt and tried to slip the jacket on around her shoulders. When it became apparent she was shaking too hard, Rafe reached over and dragged the jacket around her, helping her slip her arms through the sleeves and tucking it down at
the back. He even did up the zipper, then the ivory buttons all the way to her chin. Wrapped to his satisfaction, he reached across her and dragged her belt over, snapping it into place.

“Thank you,” she whispered, staring at the side of his face that was only inches from hers.

His brown eyes rose to hers, shadowed by his hair. “Better?” he asked instead, searching her face.

At a loss for words, she only nodded.

He drew back and pulled into drive. Against the roof, the rain tapped a chilling, familiar beat. Ana shuddered so violently that it probably looked like she was having some kind of fit. Rafe made no comment, but he did reach for the heater knobs and cranked them on high.

“Were you really going to walk to school?” he asked unexpectedly.

Ana shrugged a shoulder, but it came out as a weird twitch. “I missed the bus.” It sounded like such a lame excuse.

He sighed. “That’s like a twenty minute walk and it’s pouring out
. You don’t even have a jacket on.”

“I meant to grab one,” she said defensively. “But I didn’t want to miss my bus so I ran out and I missed it anyway so I
… I just kept walking.”

He just shook his head slowly, long fingers drumming on the wheel. “Next time, just
wait for me. I’ll pick you up.”

“But I don’t need you to pick me up!” she said, annoyance flaring behind her words. “I can catch the bus.”

“Yeah, that shows,” he muttered dryly.

Ana
grit her jaw. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He
cast a sidelong glance from the corner of his eye in her direction, a quick flick of his eyes before turning them on the road again. “It means you have tried and failed twice already. Maybe you should wake up earlier, use less time in the bathroom primping your hair or something.”

She didn’t understand where his hostilities were coming from, but if he was having a bad day, she sure as hell wasn’t going to let him take it out on her. “Then you shouldn’t have stopped! In fact, you can stop right now. I would rather walk!”

“I’m not letting you walk,” he retorted, glaring at the windshield.

“Letting me?”
she exclaimed, outraged by his choice of words. “Since when do you get to
let me
do anything? If I want to get out, then I will get out! Stop the car or so help me, I
will
jump!”

His hand came off the wheel and shoved through his hair. Frustration wafted off him in waves, hotter than the muggy, recycled air blowing from the vents. “Look, I’m sorry, okay?” he said. “
I’ve had a rough few days. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

She considered telling him to stop and pull over anyway, but something in his voice, in his face, stopped her. There was irritation there, churning deep in the shadows behind his eyes, but there was also pain
, anger and regret.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He shook his head, dropping his hand back onto the wheel. The leather creaked beneath his white-knuckled grip. A muscle bunched at his jaw. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

She started to argue, but they had reached the gates of the school and more than one eye was on them as they turned into the parking lot.

“Oh no…!” she groaned, feeling herself sinking in her seat.

“What?” Rafe glanced around, somehow oblivious to the gawking.

“How do you not see it?” she hissed, voice low as if to avoid being overheard.

It took him a second to figure out what she was talking about, and his face darkened. “Well, I apologize for being such a humiliation for you.”

Ana’s eyes widened at the venom in his tone. “That’s not—”

He pulled into an empty parking spot and cut the engine. “Next time, I’ll just drop you off away from the school and no one need ever know.”

“That isn’t—!”

But he had already leapt out of the car and
was storming off, leaving her alone in the suddenly suffocating air. She sat in stunned silence for a moment, watching his retreating back cut through the rain. Then she threw off her seatbelt, grabbed her bag and ran after him.

“Rafe! Wait!”

He was already gone, vanishing in the crowd. Ana searched for him, hoping to spot his black hoodie, but nearly every boy she passed was wearing a black hoodie, jeans and runners. It was like trying to find a needle in a pile of needles. Eventually, she gave up and went inside. She had Chemistry again before lunch. She would talk to him then.

Jack was waiting for her when Ana reached her locker. The girl was wearing black khakis, black boots and a bright red t-shirt that said,
Yeah I’m That Good!
in sloppy, black letters. Her nose ring glinted when she smiled.

“Hey, Wendy!”

Ana considered this new nickname while undoing the combo on her lock. Did she want to be called Wendy or Mini Freak? Something told her to just count her blessings and move on.

“Hey!” she said back, throwing open her locker and dumping her backpack inside.

“Nice jacket!” Jack tugged on the sleeve of Rafe’s wool jacket with black tipped fingers.

Ana groaned, having completely forgotten she was still wearing it. “It’s not mine,” she muttered, undoing the buttons and zipper.

Jack raised her eyebrows. “Oh?”

Ana rolled her eyes. “It’s
Rafe’s,” she mumbled, realizing there was no point lying. News of her arriving at school with Rafe for a second morning would doubtlessly spread like wildfire by lunchtime. “He gave me a ride to school,” she explained, slipping the jacket off, but hanging onto it.

Jack sucked air through her teeth, face twisting into a wince.

“Nothing happened!” Ana exclaimed, throwing her arms out. “He just gave me a ride.”

Jack up her palms up. “Hey, I’m not
judging. I got your back, girl. But I can’t say the same for the rest of the female populace. So, I’d watch my back if I were you.”

Ana started to ask her what she meant when
the bell tolled, signaling the start of first period. Jack skipped off with a cheery farewell, leaving Ana scrambling to get organized. She quickly grabbed the books she would need for the next two classes, slammed her locker and hurried to her first class with Rafe’s jacket slung over her arm.

Her first class turned out to be upstairs and down a very long corridor. She made several turns before finding it. The door was open and students were still finding their seats when she slipped inside.

“Oh, hello!” A tall, willowy woman with big brown eyes and wavy brown hair smiled from the front of the class. She walked over, all slender grace, hand extended. “I’m Miss. Burke.”

Ana took the hand and gave it a shake. “Ana French.”